Impressions from Zalazane's Fall

After visiting Dun Morogh to see Operation: Gnomeregan in action (see my recently whipped-up blog, Impressions from Operation: Gnomeregan), I wanted to check out what the Cataclysm pre-launch event looks like for the Horde side. If you weren't able to keep up with the flood of information about the pre-launch events, be sure to check out the quick summary we have on the Pre-Launch Events from our Cataclysm guide.

As a quick recap, the Gnomes are plotting to reclaim New Tinkertown, their irradiated city lost to Mekgineer Thermaplugg. At the same time, the Trolls plan to retake the Echo Isles, their former home taken away from them by Zalazane. The mysterious Twilight's Hammer Cult will also take advantage of the situation to agitate for their teachings, bewildering common citizens.

Enough with the babble! Let's explore Zalazane's Fall!

WARNING: If you don't like spoilers, stop here. Otherwise, let's continue after the break!

Da Perfect SpiesRather than standing uselessly around in Thrall's throne room, Vol'jin is now located near the Sen'jin Village, on the Darkspear Strand. But you don't receive the starting quest from him. Go to Vanira instead, who is right next to Vol'jin. Vanira wants you to capture some Sen'jin Frogs, which she will use to analyze the situation over at the Echo Isles. You will find the frogs sunbathing hiding below palms around the Darkspear Strand. Release them one by one at Vanira's Sentry Totem, and then report to her.

Frogs Away!After having attuned the frogs to Vanira's sentry totem, she wants you to toss the bags of frogs into the white smoke signals on the Echo Isles the spirits have summoned for guidance. Ask Handler Marnlek east of Sen'jin Village (in the south, if you come directly from Vanira) for a bat ride.

Toss the frogs at the white smokes on the ground, as seen in the screenshot. After the flight, report back to Vanira.

Trollin' For VolunteersThe next quest can be picked up from Champion Uru'zin. He wants you to recruit interested Razor Hill troll residents for the coming battle using Vol'jin's War Drums (unlike the gnomish device used to twist minds...or is it the same?). If you like a nice and slow scenery ride, skip the taxi service provided by Handler Marnlek and ride to Razor Hill, otherwise grab a free flight.

Once arrived in Razor Hill, you can pick up local citizens by sounding Vol'jin's War Drums, and they'll follow you. Return to Sen'jin Village by foot once you have gathered enough volunteers. Report to Champion Uru'zin.

Lady Of Da TigersThe next quest is available from Vanira. She wants you to examine an intelligent tiger her frogs have seen, and maybe convince her to help with the battle against Zalazane. After being transformed into a shadowy walking panther, you are to approach any of the smaller isles and look for her.

The tiger matriarch will spawn in a short time, surprising you. Once you defeat her, she will transform into a troll, revealing herself as a troll druid. She agrees to help the Darkspear tribe, and sends you to report to Vol'jin and notify him about Zen'tabra's aid.

Dance Of De SpiritsVol'jin is happy about the news and compliments your work. He then sends you to Witch Doctor Hez'tok who will call for the spirits to set the best time for the start of the conquest. When you are ready, talk to Witch Doctor Hez'tok, and he will begin the ritual.

Once he drinks, Darkspear Ancestors appear, and the Voice of the Spirits takes the control over Witch Doctor Hez'tok's body, declaring the spirits' approval of the Darkspears' plan. They leave, and Witch Doctor Hez'tok is transformed back. Confident, he says the Darkspears will reclaim the Echo Isles. Report back to Vol'jin.

Preparin' For BattleThe next quest is available from Champion Uru'zin. He tells you that Vol'jin has requested your assistance at the Echo Isles, where he now is preparing for the battle with Vanira. Champion Uru'zin recommends taking the free taxi service from Handler Marnlek in order to arrive quickly at the staging area. Take the bat, and report to Vol'jin at the staging area.

Zalazane's FallVol'jin gives you the last quest to kill Zalazane. Just before the start, all members confirm their support for the Darkspear, strengthening themselves with buffs. With Zen'tabra among the party of Darkspear Warriors, Vanira and Vol'jin himself, you first seek out Bwonsamdi and plead with him for help. He puts you to test to see if you are worthy of his aid, and assures you of his help if you conquer the lost village to the south.

Wading through waves of mobs, you finally clear the village and defeat the miniboss, Jun'do the Traitor. Bwonsamdi appears, and tells Vol'jin that the leader of the Darkspear has not disappointed him. Vol'jin gives the signal to ride to the next troll camp, and charge directly into Zalazane, who proves to be a very persistent boss. Eventually, Zalazane loses so much health he has to flee to a different island. Vol'jin and the party have to finish off the remaining adds, and then give chase.

Finally, you find Zalazane protected by an impenetrable violet sphere. While the warriors more and more despairingly run against Zalazane's barrier, he just stands there, enjoying himself. Suddenly Bwonsamdi appears, and, upset about Zalazane's unjust claim on Bwonsamdi's territory, kills him. Just after Vol'jin finishes thanking Bwonsamdi, he literally puts the boot in the Darkspear's army, porting them from the Echo Isles.

It looks like the Darkspear tribe had more success than the Gnomeregan Exiles. After all, they managed to kill Zalazane, and reclaim the Echo Isles with Bwonsamdi's approval. Perhaps the gnomes will launch another attack in the same pre-launch event?

It seems the quest line "Zalazane's Fall" looks much cooler and is a tad more complex, as it involves the reveal of troll druids (specifically mentioned in this blog Spoiler: Lore Behind Troll Druids), and the decease of a major lore character, Zalazane.

What do you think? Did you expect something entirely different? If you tested it, did you enjoy it? If not, do you think you will enjoy it as a world event?

P.S.: Sorry for a couple failed screenshots. As you can see in pictures #11 and #13, there were just too many players for me to take good ones!

Comments

Comment by raennar

Seems much more complex and interesting than the gnome one, I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Comment by Pwntiff

on 2010-06-01T19:37:34-05:00

It was pretty epic, but I guess they just haven't implemented the overcloak system yet...or was that scrapped entirely?

Comment by sleepypirate

on 2010-06-01T20:14:59-05:00

wait wait

Just after Vol'jin finishes thanking Bwonsamdi, he literally puts the boot in the Darkspear's army, porting them from the Echo Isles.

To me, that sounds like the god man kicked the trolls of off the island thus not letting them back onto said island...

Comment by MissKitty

on 2010-06-01T20:17:51-05:00

Yes it does seem to be much more complex than the Gnome one. Especially in that the isles are completely retaken compared to the gnomes.Should prove to be fun. As will be troll druids

Comment by ganny

on 2010-06-01T20:25:44-05:00

I did both evens on the private test realms, starting with Operation: Gnomeregan first. While Operation: Gnomeregan was good, it was anti-climatic in comparison to the Darkspears reclaiming the Echo Isles. I think what I enjoyed the most was the voice acting of Bwonsamdi and Zen'Tabra.

Comment by menemew

on 2010-06-02T00:35:33-05:00

This is gonna be awesome. Will Echo Isles be the new troll city or just the new troll starter place?

Comment by Hakunamatata

on 2010-06-02T01:02:40-05:00

Starting place as far as I know.

Comment by Sarilyn

on 2010-06-02T03:07:07-05:00

Just to be clear... SPOILERS ahead. Side warning, it's late and this is a little disjointed.

The very first quest was a little confusing. The text doesn't describe the "attunement" process at all, so a lot of people (myself included) were wandering aimlessly around the totem, trying to get credit for the frogs. For my own part I was thinking it was like the gnome recruitment -- get close to the quest reward NPC, and it may take a second, but... poof! You have brought me five recruits, here's your reward. It wasn't until I opened my bags to make sure I had all five that I noticed that you use the frogs near the totem to attune them.

The quest to drop the sacks of frogs from the air seemed to be a bit glitched. Several times I threw the sack and was positive that I'd targeted the smoke flare, but didn't get credit. I saw a few smoke flares disappear while the sack was still in transit -- meaning I didn't get credit for hitting the target. And of course with 12 targets to hit (compared to the three for the similar gnome quest), this was a longer quest than really necessary. At the end of the first trip around the islands, I managed 10 out of 12. I got the last two I needed fairly quickly... then had to sit and wait for the rest of the flight. It was more than a little frustrating. I think they should alter the troll quest to be more like the gnome quest -- short flight, few targets. While waiting to begin the battle with Zalazane, there were a lot of comments in general chat about the same quest, with people having the same problems I was.

The fight at the end was chaotic, as expected. For this battle (which I did after my first experience with Gnomeregan) I'd set up for more AoE damage, and didn't have any targeting issues like I mentioned in the other impressions thread. Given the lack of hallways, people were more spread out. This was good in that it didn't seem too crowded, but bad in regards to the fact that it was sometimes hard to tell which direction to go. The final battle was pretty satisfying, though -- we won in the fight against the bad guy, the islands retaken and everyone goes home to a parade.

The lore for the troll druids was more than a little weak, in my opinion. They've had troll druids around, but they've just been hiding? Meh. To be honest I'm not really too concerned with the lore, but that quest stuck out as something that seemed to be shoehorned in to try to explain things.

Overall I enjoyed the troll quests more than the gnome side, even accounting for the criticisms above.

Comment by TomatoSauce

on 2010-06-02T04:34:27-05:00

At least it's being retaken.

Comment by eAiur

on 2010-06-02T09:16:39-05:00

I wasn't a big fan of it. Just seemed... boring.Kind of like the battle for the undercity. You have so much health, mana and damage, but to make up for it, there's WAY more mobs.

Comment by Ailyx

on 2010-06-02T09:48:19-05:00

I'm confused, 3.3.5 isn't live yet ... is it? This is all from the PTR right?

Comment by Haeleos

on 2010-06-02T13:51:30-05:00

TRAWL DROOD!

I believe they're hinting at what the cat forms are gonna look like.

Anyway... Looks exciting! Seems kinda silly that Zalazane gets his butt kicked, runs for his life, then is suddenly immune and needs a god to come kill him off. =| But whutever.

Excited to play it on live, yes I am!

Comment by Sarilyn

on 2010-06-02T16:01:45-05:00

I'm confused, 3.3.5 isn't live yet ... is it? This is all from the PTR right?

This is from the PTR, yes.

Comment by Deathbang

on 2010-06-02T21:59:09-05:00

The reason trolls succeeded and gnomes did not, is because trolls are trolls and gnomes are gnomes. Gnomes are doomed to always fail at everything other than being enjoyably puntable.

Comment by raivne

on 2010-06-03T06:35:59-05:00

still like the gnome one better.This is pretty dumb...

Comment by raivne

on 2010-06-03T06:37:41-05:00

The reason trolls succeeded and gnomes did not, is because trolls are trolls and gnomes are gnomes. Gnomes are doomed to always fail at everything other than being enjoyably puntable.